A surge in gift transactions on the Zelle person-to-person payment network has led JPMorgan Chase & Co. to roll out a feature allowing its mobile users to send digital gift cards. The new service, announced Monday, is available now for both mobile and online customers and enables more than 60 …
Read More »Retailers Riled up About Regulated Debit Interchange as Authorization Costs Decline
A prominent merchant group says that in the face of declining authorization, clearing, and settlement costs, it is time for the Federal Reserve to lower its regulated debit card interchange rate. The Retail Industry Leaders Association issued its call after the Fed last month released its latest bi-annual study of …
Read More »A New Refund Policy From PayPal Will Stop Returning Fees to Sellers on Canceled Sales
PayPal Holdings Inc. has posted some important policy changes set to take effect soon, including one that will stop refunding sellers for the commission part of the fee they pay on sales when buyers cancel. Sellers on forums like Reddit have been reacting for at least the last five days …
Read More »COMMENTARY: It’s Time We Finally Got a True Picture of Acceptance Costs
A recent Forbes article attempted to refute many of the conclusions of a prior Wall Street Journal article that had illustrated how the card schemes (Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.) have dramatically increased their fees in recent years. In response, the Forbes article challenged the Journal article by completely changing …
Read More »C-Stores Saw Card-Acceptance Costs Rise Faster Than Sales in 2018
Convenience stores saw their payment card acceptance costs rise nearly 10% in 2018 even though sales increased only 9%, according to data reported Wednesday by the trade association NACS. NACS, formerly known as the National Association of Convenience stores, says credit and debit card fees paid by its members rose …
Read More »Eye on Crypto: FitPay Starts Shipping Flip; InstaMed Prototypes a Blockchain Payment App
FitPay Inc. has started shipping its contactless, coin-shaped Flip device, which allows users to spend Bitcoin as U.S. dollars at stores. The company said on Wednesday it plans to “ramp up” production of Flip though the first half of the year. The news comes after Fit Pay announced in January …
Read More »Card Fees Increase 9.9% for C-Stores and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 4/3/19
Payment card fees paid by convenience stores last year rose 9.9% to $11.1 billion from $10.1 billion in 2017, NACS, formerly the National Association of Convenience Stores, says in its newly released State of the Industry report. The increase in card fees outpaced 2018’s 8.9% increase in total sales, to …
Read More »Cash Discounts And Surcharging Remain the Hot Topic for ISOs
They’ve been the subject of intense debate for several years now, but evidence from the Southeast Acquirers Association annual conference Tuesday shows interest among independent sales organizations in discounts for cash and credit card surcharges is as high as ever. About 800 people attended the Atlanta confab that concluded Wednesday, …
Read More »T-Mobile Enters the Merchant Services Fray With a Branded Reader And TSYS Processing
Merchants will be able to choose merchant services from T-Mobile US Inc. now that the wireless carrier has launched GoPoint, a new product that includes one-price processing and mobile card readers. With processing provided by Total System Services Inc. (TSYS), GoPoint is aimed at small and medium-size businesses. The service …
Read More »With Merchant Fees in Sight, a Blockchain-Based Credit Card Promises Lower Acceptance Costs
Thirty-five merchants in the Silicon Valley area are accepting the new Yosemite Card, which caps acceptance fees at 0.3%. The private credit card can do that because it uses blockchain technology to manage transactions. Typical discount rates for network-branded credit cards range from 2% to 3% or more. Palo Alto, …
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